A British Columbian gamer may have saved the lives of American teenagers after reporting comments by an Xbox LIVE gamer based in San Antonio, Texas. According to the report, the disgruntled US teen was bemoaning recent grades and began naming specific targets for a possible high school shooting.

The Port Alberni, BC resident informed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who then contacted Microsoft's Law Enforcement Security division, who quickly pinpointed the gamer’s location as San Antonio, Texas. The Texas teen was promptly taken into custody by local police, and now faces charges.

Exactly what I did with that piece of shit who threatened to kill my family. He's probably getting his ass rammed right now in Juvy serves him right. How wonderful is it to have a criminal charge at 15 years of age?

Exactly what I did with that piece of shit who threatened to kill my family. He's probably getting his ass rammed right now in Juvy serves him right. How wonderful is it to have a criminal charge at 15 years of age?

A Marshall High School student was arrested and suspended from school after police were alerted by Canadian authorities that a boy told other online gamers playing “Modern Warfare 2” that he wanted to shoot people at his school.

On Feb. 4, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police contacted local police and told them they had a report of a teen here who talked with other players online about “shooting up a school in Texas,” while the group played the game on an Xbox 360 system that allowed for verbal communication, the police report said.

During the game, the teen said he planned on getting guns from a friend in the Marines and would “shoot a pregnant girl at school and shoot his best friend in the face,” the report said. The boy also mentioned that because SWAT may be on the scene within 10 minutes, they would have to aim for the head.

A player from Port Alberni, British Columbia, called police there who then called Microsoft, which linked the game console the boy had used to San Antonio, according to a story in the Vancouver Sun.

Pascual Gonzalez, a spokesman for Northside Independent School District, said the arrested boy, 16, and his mother met with the high school principal and said authorities searched the boy’s locker and found nothing.

“The boy was very remorseful and very scared,” Gonzalez said. “We believe that the boy truly was sorry for what he was doing, but in this day and age you have to take all of these kinds of verbal statements, these verbal threats, very seriously and he’s going to have to learn that the hard way.”

The student was suspended and is not allowed to return to Marshall. When contacted at his home, the teen said he didn’t want to comment.

San Antonio police spokesman Matthew Porter said the investigation began as soon as they got the call from Canadian authorities.

“We take these types of crimes very seriously,” he said.

Because the teen is a juvenile, the department did not release the boy’s name but confirmed he was arrested on a charge of “false alarm or report.” The crime is committed when a person “knowingly initiates, communicates, or circulates a report of a present, past or future, bombing, fire, offense or other emergency that he knows is false or baseless” that would cause action by authorities, put a person in fear of imminent danger or prevent or disrupt an occupation of a building, according to the Texas criminal code.

Because the threat involved a school, the charge is a state jail felony instead of a misdemeanor.

Gonzalez said the case could serve as a reminder to parents to talk to their children and be aware of what they are doing while online.

Click to expand...

There is no mention of Microsoft in the article but I would be surprised if they weren't involved in some way. It looks like for the most part it may have been a kid shooting his mouth off more than actually planning to kill someone but still what he is reported to have said is troubling.

This violates some sort of constituational right. Hold on a sec while i get my book of bemoaning and bs...

I might sound kinda wussy, but I don't really care for kids whining about their personal lives and talking about people they'd kill if they could. That sorta thing just isn't cool or whatever, and more than likely someones gonna take you faserious and report you. So, more cool points get knocked off

you dont fuck around like that. times have changed and technology has with it. most of the time we hate the invasion of privacy like this but has its advantages. for the ones who think this was wrong..... imagine you had a kid who is in that school